
Glass BJ/ faj 

Book, N 4- 

PRESENTED BV 



The 

Development of Character 



A PRACTICAL CREED 

BY 

OSCAR NEWFANG 



NEW YORK 
1921 



^4 



Press of 

J. J. Little & Ives Company 

New York, U. S. A. 






CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Outline 5 

I Happiness the Goal of Life 9 

II Health the Source of the Greatest Physical 

Happiness 15 

III Sympathy the Source of Greater Happiness 

than Health 20 

IV Kindness a Corollary to Sympathy .... 25 
V Sacrifice a Second Corollary to Sympathy . 29 

VI Love 35 

The most perfect form of mutual sympathy 
and therefore the source of the greatest pos- 
sible happiness. 

VII Conjugal Love 43 

The law of love applied to the family. 

VIII Patriotism 51 

The law of love applied to the state. 

IX Philanthropy 56 

The law of love applied to the race. 

X Love Toward God 61 

The existence and character of God. 
iii 



iv CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XI Love Toward God 77 

Acquaintance with God. 

XII Love Toward God 84 

Fellowship with God. 

XIII Love Toward God . 89 

Preparation for eternal life. 



OUTLINE 

The following brief chapters were written in the 
belief, that the cardinal principles upon which a good 
character is based are susceptible of absolute demon- 
stration; and the attempt has been made to present 
these demonstrations as nearly as possible in the terse, 
direct manner in which a geometrical proposition is 
proved, without any effort toward oratory or epigram. 
Technical terms have been avoided, and it is hoped 
that the subject has been presented in language that 
will enable every candid mind to follow the argument 
and perceive the correctness of the conclusions. The 
object sought is not mere academic assent to a series 
of propositions, but a practical adoption of the prin- 
ciples set forth in daily life and in the formation of 
character. 

A brief outline of the propositions which the writer 
undertakes to prove will give the reader a general 
view of the subject. It is first shown that happiness 
is the ultimate goal of human life. Then the physical 
nature of man is considered, and the various sources 
of pain and pleasure are shown to be connected with 
health-giving or health-destroying conditions ; and the 
conclusion is reached, that health is the source of the 
greatest physical happiness. After which man is con- 

5 



6 OUTLINE 

sidered as a social being, and it is proven that the 
mental pleasures arising from sympathy are greater 
than the physical pleasures, and that therefore sym- 
pathy should be more cultivated than the pursuit of 
physical enjoyment. Corollaries to this demonstra- 
tion the practices of kindness and sacrifice are shown 
to be. Proceeding with the cultivation of mutual 
sympathy, we find that its most perfect form is love, 
the highest mutual degree of which is proven to be, 
the source of the greatest happiness of which man 
is capable. 

While the application of the principles set forth is 
in general left to the intelligence and honesty of the 
reader, the supreme importance of the law of love 
makes it advisable to devote chapters to its applica- 
tion to the three principal human relations, the con- 
jugal relation, the relation to the state, and the relation 
to the race ; these applications are discussed under the 
heads of conjugal love, patriotism, and philanthropy. 

As it becomes evident that the sacrifices demanded 
by the law of love may endanger or even demand the 
giving of life, a stand upon the question of a future 
life is shown to be necessary in the development of 
character. And the decision of this question appear- 
ing to depend upon the existence, disposition and 
power of God, an attempt is made to prove the love 
and power of the Supreme Being from their mani- 
festation in the universe. It is then shown, that 
love toward God, owing to His perfect and unchang- 
ing goodness, must be the climax of human bliss ; and 



OUTLINE 7 

the cultivation of such love is discussed under the 
heads of acquaintance with God, fellowship with 
God, and preparation for eternal life with Him. 

Oscar Newfang. 
New York. 
Jan. i, 1921. 



THE DEVELOPMENT 
OF CHARACTER 

A PRACTICAL CREED 
CHAPTER I 

HAPPINESS THE GOAL OF LIFE 

Character is a fixed inclination toward certain 
courses of conduct, resulting from constant obedience 
to moral principles prescribing such conduct. A moral 
principle is a conviction that a certain kind of conduct 
ought to be invariably pursued. The convictions re- 
garding the desirability or undesirability of various 
courses of action are the result of generalizations of 
the experiences of life. Right character, therefore, 
cannot be developed without right principles ; and right 
principles depend on a true understanding of human 
nature and human experience. 

We must therefore begin our study of character 
with an examination of the constitution of man. We 
must endeavor to ascertain what ground there is in 

9 



io THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

human nature and life for the distinction between de- 
sirable and undesirable actions, or right and wrong 
conduct, and to formulate this first principle into a 
criterion applicable to the whole of human life; and, 
as the complex phenomena of human life can be more 
readily understood after the similar phenomena of 
lower animal life are understood, we turn first to 
the latter. 

A study of the animal kingdom reveals the fact that 
all sentient creatures are actuated by a single motive 
power. From the tiniest humming-bird to the might- 
iest condor, from the mouse to the elephant, they in- 
variably seek to avoid painful feelings and to secure 
agreeable ones. Assuming that similar physical con- 
ditions produce the same pains in the animal kingdom 
that they do in mankind, we note that the painful sen- 
sation of hunger drives them one and all to daily 
action in order to avoid it; the disagreeable feeling 
of thirst compels them to seek water. In the same 
way the pain produced by excessive heat or cold fur- 
nishes the motive for their seeking shelter, and the 
pain attending wounds makes them fly from danger. 

The avoidance of pain and the pursuit of its oppo- 
site, pleasure, are but two ways of expressing the 
same thing; just as the avoidance of cold and the 
pursuit of its opposite, heat, are simply two modes 
of looking at the same action. Hence it is only an- 
other illustration of the same motive power to point 
out that the gambols of young animals and the bask- 
ing of the tortoise in the sun are persevered in because 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER n 

of the pleasure which they produce. These few classes 
of actions, the efforts to procure shelter, food and 
safety, and the playful sports of animals, embrace the 
entire self-regarding activity of the lower animals. 

While all animals except the very lowest show more 
or less social activities, it is not so plain that the 
same universal goal, happiness, prompts them, as it 
does the actions having self only as their object. The 
feelings and motives actuating the higher animals in 
their more complex activities, such as the swarming 
of ants, the hiving of bees, and the mating of the 
sexes, can only be conjectured by human beings from 
a comparison with and an inference from the motives 
to similar actions among mankind. To attempt, there- 
fore, to prove from human experience that the craving 
for the agreeable is the motive for the social as well 
as for the self-regarding actions of animals, would 
be to beg the question upon which this preliminary 
inquiry is meant to throw light. 

Turning now from the self-regarding actions in the 
lower animals to the same class of actions in man, 
we find that the same craving for the agreeable and 
aversion to the disagreeable is the universal motive. 
That the pangs of hunger drive man to labor, requires 
no elaborate demonstration. The same motive, the 
avoidance of pain, is evident in the case of our other 
bodily necessities, clothing, shelter, safety. In fact, 
so strongly and constantly does every man feel within 
himself the craving for pleasure and the shrinking 
from pain, urging him to certain actions and restrain- 



12 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

ing him from others, that no candid person will be in- 
clined to doubt the reality of this motive. 

The question then is not, whether the desire for 
happiness is an incentive and happiness a goal; but, 
whether this is 'he sole motive power in human nature. 
Is the desire for happiness the only spring in the ma- 
chine, or are there others entering into the endlessly 
varied pursuits of men? Endlessly varied though the 
pursuits of men may be, a careful analysis will show 
that the desire for happiness is the motive for them 
all, and that the enjoyment of the highest degree of 
happiness possible is the ultimate goal of all human 
effort. It may be called by some other name, bliss, 
salvation, or heaven; it may be sought in a future 
life at the expense of pain in this life; but, in the 
last analysis, the motive of every human being is the 
desire for happiness, and this will be found to be the 
only motive to action in the constitution of man. 

Take a few examples of conduct seemingly at va- 
riance with the above principle, and analyze them. 
Here is a man who sacrifices the necessities of life 
to relieve a friend and willingly suffers pain in con- 
sequence of his generous action. Is he actuated by a 
desire for happiness in his conduct, or has he some 
other motive ? He helps his friend because he sympa- 
thizes with him; that is, endures a similar anguish by 
picturing to himself his friend's sufferings ; and, after 
relieving those sufferings, he shares by the same sym- 
pathy and love the happiness which his sacrifice has 
given to his friend. If his love and sympathy are 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 13 

not strong enough to make the sympathetic pains and 
pleasures outweigh the sacrifice, he does not make it. 
The same analysis applies to the sacrifices of parent 
for child, with a force increased in proportion to the 
more perfect sympathy and love existing in this in- 
stance. 

Take as another example a person who for religious 
reasons sacrifices pleasure-giving objects and pursues 
conduct producing pain. The motive in this instance 
is the attainment of happiness or salvation in the life 
to come; and while such conduct may be so painful 
as to cause even death itself, the ultimate goal is still 
the same, the enjoyment of bliss. 

In a like manner another man follows the dictates 
of conscience, although the resulting conduct deprives 
of pleasure or gives pain. He does so (if he considers 
conscience a natural evolution), because he is con- 
vinced that obedience to the inward monitor will in 
the end be best for him, that in the aggregate it will 
produce more happiness than misery in his life. Or 
he is convinced that conscience is the voice of God, 
and he feels that obedience to Him must lead ulti- 
mately to the greatest happiness or the avoidance of 
the greatest torment. Without this conviction, he could 
have no motive for obeying even God Himself. 

The pursuit of wealth, of power, of honor, of fame, 
of health, of knowledge — of any object whatsoever, is 
all due in the ultimate analysis to the desire for 
happiness (including in this term, as explained above, 
the aversion to pain). If this be so, we may now lay 



i 4 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

down the basic principle, that happiness is the legiti- 
mate and necessary goal of human action. And the 
inquiry into the proper development of character be- 
comes a search for the means of attaining the most 
permanent and the greatest degree of happiness. 



CHAPTER II 

HEALTH THE SOURCE OF THE GREATEST PHYSICAL 
HAPPINESS 

In seeking the means of attaining happiness it is 
important to note that the agreeable states of con- 
sciousness which we seek may be divided into two 
classes; those which arise from physical causes, and 
those which arise from mental causes. The former 
affect us through the body and may be briefly although 
inaccurately called physical pleasures, while the latter 
owe their origin to the various processes of the mind 
and may, for the sake of brevity, be termed mental 
or spiritual pleasures. 

As the physical pleasures are the simpler, we shall 
consider them first. A candid mind will require no 
elaborate proof of the general law, that pleasure at- 
tends all such activities and conditions of the human 
body, in its normal state, as are conducive to the main- 
tenance of life; while pain accompanies all activities 
and conditions destructive of life. So perfect is this 
adjustment of pleasure and pain to wholesome and 
harmful environment, that a certain degree of heat, 
for instance, is agreeable and at the same time bene- 

15 



16 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

ficial, while a greater degree is increasingly painful as 
the temperature rises, until at a point where the tissues 
of the body are destroyed the pain is excruciating. On 
the other hand, a reduction of the temperature below 
the point which is agreeable and beneficial is also at- 
tended with pain, which increases with the cold to 
the point where ears, nose and fingers are in danger 
of freezing, and at this point the pain becomes in- 
tense. 

A similar adjustment of pleasure to life-preserving 
actions is seen in the enjoyment of eating, while 
hunger is painful ; in the pleasure of drinking and 
the pain of thirst; in the pleasure of moderate and 
beneficial exercise and the pain of excessive and harm- 
ful toil; in the agreeable sensation of refreshing rest 
after labor; in the disagreeable feeling caused by a 
long absence of sleep, the natural method of restoring 
the bodily tissues. In short, it is a general law, that 
whatever is conducive to perfect health is pleasurable, 
and whatever is harmful to health is painful. 

And we may go a step further even than this. Per- 
fect health itself is accompanied not only by an entire 
absence of pain, but also by a certain diffused pleas- 
ure which we sometimes call high spirits, and which 
gives zest and pleasure to all our activities. There is 
a surplus of pleasure over pain in the mind of a 
healthy man, which makes life worth living, and which 
may be simply called the joy of life. We therefore 
arrive at the conclusion, that all conduct which makes 
for perfect health should be followed, and the con- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 17 

trary avoided ; or, to put it briefly, health is the source 
of the greatest physical pleasure. 

Hence the preservation of health is a duty, and the 
various traits of character which enable us to preserve 
health may be called the physical virtues. They may 
be briefly summed up under the heads of providence 
and physical culture. By providence is here meant the 
conservative state of mind which enables its possessor 
to guard as much as possible against whatever con- 
tingencies may naturally be expected, so as to be al- 
ways provided with the necessities of life. It there- 
fore includes habits of industry, economy and thrift, 
and (in the present state of civilization) an attempt 
to save at least a modest competence for old age. It 
is opposed to expensive habits and luxury. The stand- 
ard of a prudent man's life should be as simple and 
inexpensive as is consistent with a perfect develop- 
ment of the highest type of health and of intellectual 
and moral life. If we lose sight of this qualification, 
our prudence will degenerate into austerity or ascet- 
ism, and, by injuring health, will defeat the very ob- 
ject for which we strive. 

By physical culture is meant the shaping of our 
lives, as much as is consistent with higher duties 
(which will be discussed later), into such regular 
periods of activity and rest, of wakefulness and sleep, 
of work and recreation, as shall be most conducive to 
the preservation of perfect vigor and health and the 
warding off of sickness and death. No single rule can 
be laid down, in the present complex ^tate of civiliza- 



18 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

tion, by which all men can fulfill this duty. It can 
only be said in general, that those whom the necessity 
of earning a livelihood compels to forego active physi- 
cal exertion should, as much as possible, seek to sup- 
ply this necessity; and those who are compelled to 
work indoors should seek to obtain the maximum 
amount of fresh air and outdoor life. Those who 
lead an active outdoor life from day to day, such as 
the farmer, the builder, etc., naturally need little fur- 
ther in the way of physical culture. The only general 
rules that can be laid down for the discharge of this 
duty are, that every man should seek to obtain ample 
vigorous exercise, followed by a sufficient period of 
rest; that he should keep regular and sufficient hours 
of sleep ; that he should be cleanly and eat wholesome 
food, have plenty of fresh air, and sufficient shelter 
and clothing. To go further into details would be to 
enter the province of hygiene, while this work is in- 
tended to be ethical, and the object is simply, to insist 
upon the preservation of health as a duty ; and to em- 
phasize the fact that at the bottom of all physical 
happiness is a perfect physique. 

There are certain habits that every man who seeks 
to maintain his health should avoid. Foremost among 
them in the case of modern Europe and America is 
.the habit of drinking intoxicating liquors to excess. 
It requires no argument to a candid mind to prove 
that habitual drunkenness ruins health, if it does noth- 
ing worse. Why, then, are there drunkards in every 
city ? It is almost a truism to say that no young man 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 19 

in taking his first drink of intoxicating liquor ever 
intended to become a drunkard. The habit has grown 
by degrees, until it has become a chain that he cannot 
break. I do not intend to discuss the medical question, 
as to whether a moderate amount of spirituous liquor 
is physically harmful. I am aware that many physi- 
cians (some of whom drink themselves) say it is not. 
What I do say, without fear of contradiction by medi- 
cal authorities, is, that the absence of alcoholic liquor 
is not harmful to a person in perfect physical health. 
And I say further, without fear of contradiction by 
any candid man, that the habit of drinking is mentally 
beclouding and expensive, and is apt to lead to drunk- 
enness. No more need be said to a man who knows 
how to reason. 

The above remarks apply with equal force to the 
opium habit, which is the counterpart of the drink 
habit in Oriental countries. 

The third of the principal habits which are in- 
jurious to health is immorality; but, as the discussion 
of this would require a previous understanding of 
social relations, it will be considered later. 



CHAPTER III 

SYMPATHY THE SOURCE OF GREATER HAPPINESS 
THAN HEALTH 

If each human being were completely isolated from 
every other intelligent being, the foregoing chapters 
would constitute the whole duty of ,man. The per- 
fection and the preservation of his physical health 
would be his supreme object, and the development of 
the physical virtues mentioned would be the highest 
development of character. 

As soon, however, as man is brought into contact 
with his fellow-men, an entirely new principle of hu- 
man nature manifests itself. He finds that his mind 
reflects in some degree the happiness or misery of all 
other minds; that, when he perceives an intense joy 
or an intense grief in another, he feels within himself 
a similar joy or grief of more or less intensity. This 
primary faculty of the human mind is called sympathy. 
It is the power to picture to ourselves the state of 
another mind, and to feel to a certain degree the 
pleasure or pain attending that state of mind. Sym- 
pathy may be compared to the reflected images of 
objects upon a bright surface; or to the secondary 

20 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 21 

tones produced upon a piano when a note is sounded 
strongly, causing the strings whose vibrations synchro- 
nize with the note sounded to respond. The capacity 
for sympathy differs widely in different races and in- 
dividuals, but even among the very lowest savages 
it is not wholly absent. That sympathy is really an 
elementary faculty of the mind, is evident from the 
fact that it manifests itself in infancy, before any 
derivative ideas or secondary functions can possibly 
have been imbibed. The babe in arms reflects the glee 
of the babe in arms, and the little child sometimes 
feels a more perfect sympathy with another's sorrow 
than even some mature minds would feel. 

I have said that the capacity for sympathy varies 
in different minds. By certain courses of conduct and 
education the faculty may be greatly developed, and a 
character formed that is highly sympathetic; and by 
certain other courses of conduct and education sym- 
pathy may be greatly dulled, and a character formed 
that is to a large extent callous and indifferent to the 
joys or sorrows of others. Furthermore, it is impos- 
sible for a highly sympathetic person to share the hap- 
piness of another mind, without sharing its sorrows 
as well, for the reason that sympathy responds to 
the state of mind that it finds in the mind with which 
it sympathizes. For the same reason it is impossible 
to deaden sympathy with the sorrows of another mind, 
without at the same time forfeiting all share in its 
happiness. 

The question therefore arises: Is sympathy desir- 



22 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

able? Shall we repress or cultivate our sympathy 
with our fellow-men? The answer to this question 
is of supreme importance in the development of char- 
acter. It divides mankind into two classes : the selfish 
and the unselfish. If it is true that happiness is the 
legitimate goal of human effort, this question resolves 
itself into the following: will the cultivation of sym- 
pathy bring to the mind more happiness than misery ? 
And as it is shown above, that sympathy is a re- 
flection of the joys and sorrows of our fellow-men, 
the second question resolves itself into a third : Is 
there an excess of joy over sorrow in the world, or 
is the balance the other way? If joy preponderates, 
then the cultivation of sympathy is desirable, because 
it will increase the happiness of its possessor. 

An absolute demonstration, that joy does outweigh 
sorrow in the world, is found in the continued exist- 
ence of the human race. While one person seeks to 
end life, millions cling to it. And were the ills of life 
that we can remedy removed, there would be even a 
smaller percentage of suicides. It has been shown that 
the normal state of health is accompanied by a dif- 
fused mental joy, which we call high spirits; in other 
words, we are so constituted that, in the normal state 
of health, each mind affords a source of sympathetic 
pleasure to every other mind. Therefore the normal 
man seeks the society of his fellow-men and is a social 
creature. 

The last remark leads to the consideration of an- 
other argument for the desirability of sympathy which 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 23 

amounts to a mathematical demonstration. If each 
normal mind is a source of sympathetic pleasure to 
the person coming into sympathy with it, and if the 
sympathetic pleasures approach nearer and nearer in 
intensity (as sympathy grows more perfect) to the 
pleasures directly enjoyed, it is a simple problem in 
multiplication, that the joys of the sympathetic mind 
will be multiplied by the number of other normal 
minds with which it sympathizes. And even if it is 
granted that the joys of sympathy cannot rise to the 
intensity of pleasures directly enjoyed, it still remains 
true that the sympathetic mind, having an unlimited 
number of other minds from which to receive pleas- 
ure, must be incomparably happier than the callous 
mind, which is dead to all pleasures except the very 
limited amount which it can directly receive from 
physical health. 

It follows, therefore, that the development of sym- 
pathy is of greater importance for the attainment of 
happiness than physical culture, important as that is; 
and that it should be our constant endeavor to broaden 
and perfect our sympathy with all of our fellow-men. 
And how shall this be done? If the definition of sym- 
pathy above given, as a representation of the state of 
another's mind in our own minds, be correct, it is evi- 
dent that the best means of cultivating sympathy is 
to make ourselves acquainted with the condition of 
our fellow-men by actual contact with their minds, by 
personal observation of their lives, by democratic fel- 
lowship and co-operation with them. When this 



24 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

method of cultivating our sympathies is not possible, 
owing to the intervening distance, the difference of 
language, lack of time, or for other reasons, we ought 
to acquaint ourselves with their circumstances through 
the public prints, through accounts of travelers, ac- 
counts of philanthropic efforts made throughout the 
world, and by a broad acquaintance with history, with 
intimate biography, and with the literature which ex- 
erts the largest influence in the various nations of the 
world. 

Fully as important as the effort to develop sympathy 
is the avoidance of certain traits of character that 
tend to estrange us from 01 ir fellow-men and to deaden 
our sympathy with them. Foremost among these traits 
is the class distinction which in the man of physique 
takes the form of arrogance; in the man of learning, 
the form of pedantry ; in the man of religion, the form 
of bigotry; in the man of wealth, the form of exclu- 
siveness. Still more productive of callousness and 
fatal to sympathy are the extortion, the oppression, 
the tryranny of power political or industrial, and the 
open theft and robbery of violence or pillage. 



CHAPTER IV 

KINDNESS A COROLLARY TO SYMPATHY 

It has been shown that the faculty of sympathy 
reflects alike the pleasures and the pains of other 
minds, and it has been proven in the preceding chapter 
that sympathy is capable of affording an incomparably 
higher degree of happiness than the pleasure attend- 
ing physical health and physical functions. It follows, 
therefore, that it is of the utmost importance for our 
happiness that the pains of our fellowmen be dimin- 
ished and removed, and that their pleasures be in- 
creased and secured. Every mind made happier 
within our ken increases the reflected happiness in 
our own minds, and every grief removed diminishes 
the painful sympathies of our own minds. Hence the 
seeming paradox, that the way to be happy ourselves 
is to make our fellow-men happy, as far as our in- 
fluence, wealth and power can do so. Kindness is a 
mathematical corollary to sympathy. 

If the view of human nature set forth in this work 
be true, it is the utmost folly in the presence of pain 
or sorrow to turn away our eyes, to deaden our sym- 
pathies, to build a wall about our little exclusive circle 
and steel our hearts against the mass of mankind. By 

25 



26 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

doing so we indeed shut out a certain amount of pain- 
ful sympathy, but we also destroy the capacity of 
sympathizing with the happiness of our fellow-men, 
and therefore deprive ourselves of a far greater 
amount of pleasurable sympathy. This is true even 
on the supposition that we do nothing ourselves to 
alleviate the pains or increase the joys of those about 
us. But if we are constantly on the alert to remove 
every grief that we can remedy, wherever and when- 
ever it comes to notice, and to impart every benefit 
and aid that is in our power at all times, the joys of 
sympathy will be multiplied to an extent of which a 
selfish or callous mind cannot conceive. 

In another manner also active beneficence increases 
the happiness of the kind person. Not only does he 
have a greater proportion of happy minds with which 
to sympathize, but by his kindness he is brought into 
closer acquaintance with the condition of his fellow- 
men, and is thus enabled to sympathize far more per- 
fectly and fully with them than the man who cares 
nothing for his fellows except as so many units in his 
calculations. 

And, furthermore, benefits received naturally and 
almost inevitably awaken a feeling of good- will to- 
ward the bestower in the recipient, who wishes to 
preserve and protect the source of his blessings. 
Hence the kind person has a feeling of security in 
dealing with his fellow-men added to the happiness of 
sympathy, which greatly heightens it, and which makes 
his memory a constant source of joy. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 27 

If the supreme importance of kindness in the pur- 
suit of happiness has now been established, the next 
step is naturally the cultivation and development of 
this trait of character. And the first thing that is 
necessary, if we would effectually help others, is to 
help ourselves. We cannot impart what we do not 
possess. Personal efficiency is therefore the best 
foundation for the successful service of our fellow- 
men, and the ambition to excel in any honorable physi- 
cal or mental occupation is laudable. For the same 
reason industry and thrift are good ; for they not only 
diminish the chances that their possessor will require 
aid from his fellow-men, but they place him in a posi- 
tion to show practical kindness to the sick, the un- 
fortunate and the erring. 

After we have acquired the ability to aid, the second 
requisite is to acquaint ourselves with the needs of 
our fellow-men, to form the habit of always consid- 
ering not only our own welfare but also the welfare 
of our neighbor, knowing that our happiness depends 
upon his well-being as well as upon our own, and 
that, as our sympathies and our intelligence develop, 
the reflected or sympathetic happiness approaches in 
intensity more and more nearly the pleasure of direct 
enjoyment. He who forms this habit of constant con- 
siderateness toward every human being with whom he 
is daily brought into contact, will be ready to embrace 
the opportunity to do a kindness when it offers and 
will thus form the habit of kindness as a permanent 
trait of his character. 



28 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

It is well to note here that honesty is implied in 
kindness and may be called negative kindness. Hon- 
esty gives what is justly due; kindness gives more 
than is due. A man may be honest without being 
kind, but he cannot be kind without first being honest. 
Honesty is the foundation upon which kindness as a 
superstructure is erected; and while the foundation 
may exist without the superstructure, the latter can- 
not exist without the foundation. Therefore, he who 
would cultivate kindness of character must first be 
absolutely honest. 

It must also be clearly understood, that only such 
service to our fellow-men as really tends to increase 
their happiness can be truly called kindness, and all 
encouragement of idleness, dissipation, crime or vice, 
far from increasing the happiness of either the object 
or the subject, has precisely the opposite effect upon 
both, upon the one directly and upon the other sym- 
pathetically. 



CHAPTER V 

SACRIFICE A SECOND COROLLARY TO SYMPATHY 

In the present imperfect state of mankind the de- 
velopment of sympathy and the practice of kindness 
frequently demand sacrifice. In order to confer a 
benefit upon our fellow-man, we find it necessary to 
forego a certain enjoyment ourselves; or, conversely 
stated, in order to relieve another from pain, we find 
that we must undergo a certain amount of pain our- 
selves. To divide one's possessions with the poor and 
unfortunate involves the sacrifice of some of the pleas- 
ures which those possessions would have purchased. 
To nurse the sick or to rescue those in danger in- 
volves the pain of fatigue or the risk, perhaps the cer- 
tainty, of contagion or injury. 

It is well to note, before going further, that as 
mankind progress in intelligence and moral character, 
and as each individual therefore becomes more and 
more able to take care of himself, the need of sacri- 
fice diminishes, and the painful sympathies are called 
into play less, while the pleasurable sympathies be- 
come more and more frequent. That kindness, uni- 
versally practiced, would greatly hasten this ameliora- 
tion of the condition of mankind, is too plain to 

29 



30 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

require proof ; but, until kindness shall be universally 
practiced, the need of sacrifice will remain. 

The question therefore arises, Shall we carry our 
kindness to the extent of sacrifice, or shall we limit 
it to conferring such benefits and relieving such pains 
as involve no sacrifice on our part? The correct an- 
swer to this question is of the greatest importance in 
the development of character and the pursuit of hap- 
piness. If we limit our kindness to such acts as cost 
us no sacrifice, closing our eyes and deadening our 
sympathies when sacrifice is required, sympathy can 
be developed only to a very low degree, and therefore 
the happiness which this faculty is capable of produc- 
ing, and which has been shown above to be by far 
the greatest happiness of which the mind is capable, 
cannot be attained. 

But, it will be said, sacrifice is confessedly painful, 
and if happiness is legitimately the goal of human ac- 
tion, what motive can there be to sacrifice? While it 
is true that sacrifice involves a direct loss of pleasure 
or an endurance of pain, this is more than offset by 
the greater sympathetic pleasure which is gained by 
it; provided, first, that the faculty of sympathy has 
been cultivated to reflect vividly enough the happiness 
which our act of sacrifice confers on our neighbor; 
and provided, secondly, that the good conferred by the 
sacrifice is greater than the good sacrificed. Sacrifice 
is therefore the best course possible under the cir- 
cumstances, because it produces more happiness than 
misery. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 31 

In regard to the first of these conditions it has been 
shown above, that not only is beneficence prompted 
by sympathy, but the exercise of kindness itself de- 
velops the power of sympathizing more and more 
perfectly with our fellow-men, thus deriving ever 
greater happiness from their well-being; and sacrifice 
is even more potent in this respect than kindness which 
costs us nothing, for the reason that the recipient is 
naturally more deeply impressed with and convinced 
of our good-will, and has a stronger affection and a 
closer attraction toward us kindled within him. As a 
result our minds come into closer mutual touch, into 
more perfect mutual understanding, into more perfect 
mutual sympathy. 

The second condition mentioned above deserves the 
most careful consideration, because it not only fur- 
nishes the proper motive to sacrifice, but at the same 
time it indicates the limit to which sacrifice should 
be carried. A sacrifice is productive of increased hap- 
piness to us only when the benefit conferred is greater 
than the loss of direct pleasure which it occasions. 
This is evident even upon the supposition that our 
faculty of sympathy has reached such perfection that 
the pleasures of our fellow-man are reproduced in our 
minds with the same intensity with which they are 
felt by him. If the pain endured through our sacri- 
fice is greater than the pleasure conferred, it is impos- 
sible that our happiness should be increased by it; be- 
cause the pleasures of sympathy may fall short in 
intensity of the pleasures directly enjoyed which they 



32 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

reflect, but never can exceed them in intensity. To 
give a concrete illustration of this abstract principle, 
suppose that the rescue of a friend's hat from the 
wheels of a passing wagon demands the loss of an 
arm; or that the rescue of a man's possessions from 
his burning home can be effected only at the cost of 
a fireman's life ; or that a profligate son's expenditures 
can be met only by his father's sacrifice of honesty; 
in these instances the good conferred is less than the 
sacrifice demanded, and there is therefore no reason 
why the sacrifice should be made. 

Thus we perceive that the limit to which sacrifice 
should be carried is that point at which the benefits 
sacrificed equal or exceed the benefits conferred; or, 
stating the same thing negatively, the point where the 
pain endured equals or exceeds the pain relieved. 
This rule presupposes a perfect faculty of sympathy, 
by which we would feel the joys or sorrows of others 
with precisely the intensity with which similar joys 
or sorrows directly affecting us would be felt. It is 
the ideal, the ultimate rule of conduct for perfect na- 
tures; just as the propositions of geometry are laid 
down and demonstrated regarding theoretically per- 
fect lines, angles and curves, and can be stated and 
demonstrated regarding nothing else. Until human 
sympathy approximates this perfect development, sac- 
rifices, even though conferring greater benefits than 
those sacrificed, will at times result in a diminution 
of the giver's happiness ; but, as has been shown above, 
kindness and sacrifice are themselves the most potent 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 33 

forces in the development of sympathy; and therefore 
the proper course to pursue is to aim at the conduct 
which would be prompted by perfect sympathy, as this 
will by a natural process of development gradually 
harmonize our sympathies with the highest type of 
beneficence. 

While the application of the rule here set down re- 
garding the limit to which sacrifice should be carried 
must be largely left to each individual, a few general 
remarks on the subject may be helpful. It is obvious 
that, while a part of mankind lacks the necessities of 
life and the blessings of civilization, we should be 
willing to sacrifice luxuries in their behalf. In other 
words, we should form as simple habits of life as 
are consistent with personal efficiency ; we should seek 
inexpensive recreations and cultivate modest tastes; 
above all, we should cultivate that humility of mind 
which is content with the things which are really nec- 
essary to maintain perfect physical health. Not only 
does a simple life leave us larger means with which 
to relieve the distress of the sick, the unfortunate and 
the erring, but it greatly diminishes the chances that 
we ourselves shall ever be found in any of these 
classes, and thus tends directly to reduce the amount 
of sacrifice required in the world. 

Before closing this chapter it is necessary to touch 
upon the supreme sacrifice, that of life itself. Accord- 
ing to the rule above set forth, if the sacrifice of one 
man's life is demanded to save the lives of several or 
many others, it should be made, because the good con- 



34 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

ferred is greater than the good sacrificed. But how 
can he who sacrifices life itself enjoy through sym- 
pathy the happiness which his act produces? The 
answer to this question is momentous : it brings us to 
the parting of the ways. If life is continuous and 
eternal, and death is but the gateway to a higher form 
of life, there is no occasion to modify or make any 
exception to the general law of sacrifice laid down. 
But if death is annihilation, there can be no motive 
for the sacrifice of life; and", carrying this exception 
to its logical conclusion, there can be no motive for 
the sacrifice of any part of life; that is, for any sacri- 
fice that would in any way impair our health or en- 
danger our means of subsistence. In other words, 
there can be no motive for any sacrifice that is really 
a sacrifice; and there must therefore be an irrecon- 
cilable and never-ending clash between our feelings of 
sympathy and the moral law as thus determined ; and 
if our happiness is absolutely dependent on the perfec- 
tion of our sympathies and the well-being of our 
fellow-men, the highest degree of happiness must be 
(at least for the present generation and for many 
future generations) unattainable. 

This is not the logical place to discuss the question 
of a future life: the only object in touching upon it 
in this chapter is, to show the profound effect upon 
character and upon our attitude toward our fellow- 
men which our position on the question must inevitably 
produce. The subject will be considered later. 



CHAPTER VI 

LOVE 

The Most Perfect Form of Mutual Sympathy and 

Therefore the Source of the Greatest 

Possible Happiness 

The definition of love as the most perfect form of 
mutual sympathy is crude and approximate only, like 
the geometrical definition of a circle as a polyhedron 
with an infinite number of sides. The exact nature 
of that attraction between minds which we call love 
is as mysterious as the attraction between bodies which 
we call gravitation. We know the one, as we know 
the other, by feeling it ; and we cannot form any better 
conception of love (if we have never felt it) from the 
approximate definition here given of it, than we could 
form of a circle (if we had never seen one) from the 
geometrical definition of it. . 

A clearer conception of this affection can perhaps 
be obtained by observing the growth of love in the 
human mind. And the first thing to be noted is, that 
love arises in one mind toward another only after a 
perception of some amiable quality in the object; that 
is, some evidence, direct or inferable, of good-will in 

35 



36 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

the object of our love. The cultivation of sympathy 
not only makes us more alert in the perception of lov- 
able traits of character in others, but the active ex- 
ercise of kindness and sacrifice awakens that very 
good-will in them which is the basis of love. The 
mutual perception of good-will, that is, of a mutual 
disposition to confer benefits, results naturally in at- 
traction toward the source of such benefits, in com- 
panionship, in closer mutual attention to one another's 
welfare and in fuller opportunities for preserving it; 
and these gradually increase our ability to sympathize 
more and more nearly perfectly with one another, 
and as a natural result constantly increase our good- 
will for each other, inasmuch as we perceive that our 
happiness is the more completely identified with that 
of our fellow-men the more perfectly we sympathize 
with them. Sympathy and good-will are thus the two 
elements entering into love. Either may exist sepa- 
rately in the mind without love, and neither separately, 
nor both together are actually love; but they seem to 
unite in the mind to form that new affection; as the 
elements of hydrogen and oxygen are neither one 
water, nor are both together water, but they unite 
chemically in certain proportions to form the new 
substance. 

This is but a crudely approximate definition of 
love ; but if it is approximately correct, it follows that 
love is the indispensable means of attaining the great- 
est happiness of which our nature is capable, because 
it is the most potent means of perfecting our sym- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 37 

pathy with our fellow-men, and because in its perfect 
form it involves perfect sympathy and perfect good- 
will. And as good-will naturally prompts us to in- 
crease the well-being and happiness of its object, it is 
evident that love constantly increases the happiness 
which is reflected in the subject's mind by sympathy. 
In other words, love tends to promote perfect physical 
health in those about us and tends to perfect sympathy 
in us with their enjoyment of health (which enjoy- 
ment has been shown to be the highest physical pleas- 
ure of which man is capable). Love is therefore the 
rational or normal attitude of the human mind toward 
other minds : it is mental health. And as the highest 
physical pleasure accompanies health, so the highest 
degree of mental happiness accompanies love. It has 
been shown that the pleasures of the mind are far 
greater in their possibilities, in their scope, frequency, 
and permanence than those of the body, and it is 
therefore evident that for the attainment of happi- 
ness love is the supreme means, and that it is the most 
important virtue in the whole development of char- 
acter. When this great truth is recognized by man- 
kind generally, and active love becomes universal, the 
human race will attain a degree of happiness of which 
we can now only faintly conceive. 

In what has been said thus far only the subjective 
definition of love has been attempted, and the mutual 
nature of the affection has been ignored; but unless 
the object of our sympathy and good-will responds to 
those amiable traits and has awakened in him a like 



38 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

sympathy and good-will toward us, a strong feeling 
of love is not formed in us. However, the object of 
genuine sympathy and good-will, manifested in prac- 
tical kindness and sacrifice for him, rarely (if ever) 
fails to perceive that such a disposition toward him 
is a source of blessing and an assurance against harm, 
and he therefore almost inevitably has awakened in 
him a desire to preserve the source of such blessing; 
that is, a feeling of good-will and a desire to be in 
closer touch with this source of blessing, and this tends 
to increase his understanding of and sympathy with 
his benefactor. In other words, love begets love. 

If love is the most important of all the virtues in 
the development of character and the supreme means 
to the attainment of happiness, a few remarks regard- 
ing its cultivation will not be amiss, The nature of 
love clearly indicates the method of its cultivation. 
Love has been defined as the most perfect form of 
mutual sympathy and good-will. And it has been 
shown, that the most certain method of awakening 
sympathy and good-will in others toward us is to ex- 
ercise those traits toward them ourselves by practical 
kindness and sacrifice in their behalf. Conversely 
stated, we should avoid the opposite traits, ill-will, 
malice, resentment, anger, hatred, spite, unkindness, 
selfishness. If the former traits awaken love, the lat- 
ter as surely destroy it, and bring strife, pain and 
misery in their train. 

And, furthermore, in order to avoid kindling any of 
these evil passions in our fellow-men (instead of 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 39 

awakening sympathy and good-will), we ought at all 
times to practice absolute justice and veracity. We 
cannot have love without first having justice and truth- 
fulness, for they are implied in the good-will which 
is one of the constituents of love. Love goes beyond 
justice, but can never fall short of it; and if we do 
not even deal justly and truly with our fellow-men, it 
is idle to pretend that we have love for them. 

If the characters of our fellowmen were perfect, 
there would be nothing further to say regarding the 
cultivation of love; but we must frequently decide 
w r hat attitude we will take toward, and with what 
disposition we will meet selfishness, injustice and ag- 
gression in others. Shall we resist and avenge un- 
kindness, unfairness and injustice, or shall we forbear 
and forgive? If what has been said regarding the 
supreme importance of love is true, it is evidently 
best to follow the course which is most likely to en- 
gender mutual sympathy and good-will. And daily 
experience teaches us, that a spirit of forbearance and 
forgiveness toward real or fancied wrongs makes and 
cements friendships and converts enmity into good- 
will ; while a quick temper, malice, threats and violence 
estrange, destroy good-will, and kindle enmity and 
strife. And the reason for this is plain ; for if kind- 
ness and sacrifice in behalf of those who are indif- 
ferent to us make them perceive our love and beget 
love in return, much more convincing to our fellow- 
man is the evidence of our good-will when we persist 
in an attitude of benevolence toward him although he 



40 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

wrongs us, and the more strongly, therefore, is he 
moved to good-will and love by such treatment. 

Among people of culture there is little need for the 
exercise of forbearance and forgiveness except in rela- 
tively small matters or in the case of misunderstand- 
ings, because each is careful not only to avoid over- 
stepping the limits of plain justice and fairness, but 
is anxious to render services and confer benefits be- 
yond those demanded by common honesty and strict 
justice. And it frequently happens among such per- 
sons that they must be on their guard not to accept 
or permit too much service and sacrifice in their be- 
half, rather than that they must insist upon their 
fair and just portion. 

But all mankind has not yet attained to such obe- 
dience to the law of love, and we sometimes meet 
callous and selfish persons whose sympathies are so 
little developed that they seem capable of the grossest 
injustice, violence and crime without the least remorse. 
And the question then arises: To what extent ought 
we to forbear and forgive in dealing with such un- 
responsive natures ? It is difficult to lay down any 
definite limit to which forbearance should be carried; 
but from what has been said it is evident that, wher- 
ever there is hope of reaching the better natures of 
our fellow-men and awakening their sympathy and 
good-will, forbearance is the best course to pursue; 
but if the aggressor is absolutely dead to all sense of 
justice and all sympathy for others., it may be neces- 
sary to keep him within the limits of justice and com- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 41 

mon honesty through fear of physical pain, or the 
actual infliction of pain upon him. However, if we 
really love our fellow-men and are as actively con- 
cerned in promoting their well-being as we are in pro- 
moting our own, we shall find that the vast majority 
of our fellow-men do respond to our kindness, and 
that we shall very rarely meet with a man who may 
be properly called a brute, as far as his mental de- 
velopment is concerned. And furthermore, we cannot, 
if we love our neighbor, inflict pain upon him without 
feeling the pain ourselves sympathetically; hence we 
can never attain perfect happiness while we use intim- 
idation and force toward others ; and it should there- 
fore be our constant endeavor, through patience, for- 
bearance and kindness toward those who wrong us, to 
create mutual friendship and mutual love, the only 
foundation of enduring and unalloyed happiness. 

Incipient love, like a young plant, is a very delicate 
thing and requires little to kill it. Therefore, in clos- 
ing these remarks on the cultivation of love, it may 
be well to emphasize the importance of avoiding seem- 
ingly little manifestations of selfishness and ill-will, 
and the importance also of constant cultivation of an 
attitude of uniform courtesy, consideration, kindliness, 
and helpfulness toward all with whom we come into 
contact. A cruel jest at the expense of a newly-found 
friend will do more to quench his growing love than 
a blow would do when love has been long established 
and firmly rooted. A pen-knife may more easily de- 
stroy a sapling than an axe, an oak. 



42 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

Among the minor manifestations of ill-will which 
we should avoid there is none more important than 
the passion which we call anger. It arises from the 
obstruction of our wills, and if this obstruction is 
caused by our fellow-man, anger becomes incipient 
hatred toward him. That this is its nature is evident 
from the fact that when indulged it leads to enmity, 
violence, and the infliction of harm. If we would 
avoid anger, we must avoid the self-will from which 
it springs, and learn to be broadly reasonable and 
unselfish in our wishes and demands and conciliatory 
in our manner. In this way our wills seldom meet 
with friction or opposition, and anger will not be 
kindled in our minds. The avoidance of this passion 
is important in the pursuit of happiness, because fre- 
quent anger produces an ingrained bitterness of dis- 
position which blights all love and destroys happiness. 



CHAPTER VII 

CONJUGAL LOVE I THE LAW OF LOVE APPLIED TO 
THE FAMILY 

The principles now laid down cover the entire re- 
lations of human beings to one another ; but there are 
three applications of the law of love that are of such 
vast importance in the development of character and 
the pursuit of happiness that it seems advisable to 
discuss them explicitly, although they are but corol- 
laries of the truth that love is the supreme means of 
happiness. They are the applications to the family, 
to the nation, and to the race. In this chapter the first 
of these will be considered. 

The facts, that mankind is divided into two sexes, 
that the human race is perpetuated by sexual union, 
and that approximately twenty years' time is required 
to rear a human being from infancy to perfect physi- 
cal, mental and moral maturity and independence, — 
these three facts of nature are the foundation of an 
entirely new set of relations between human beings. 
Thus far preservation of life has been the test of con- 
duct, but now we have to deal with the propagation 
of life. And the first question that presents itself is 
obviously, whether the propagation of the race is de- 

43 



44 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

sirable or undesirable. Is the normal man's happiness 
increased or decreased by offspring? If it has been 
demonstrated in an earlier chapter that all life con- 
tains an excess of pleasure over pain, it follows that 
the rearing of children is better than celibacy, for the 
reason that the relation between parent and child, dur- 
ing the many years that the latter is growing to matur- 
ity, is a very close one, tending to create the most per- 
fect sympathy and love, and therefore peculiarly fitted 
to increase the happiness of the parent whose sympa- 
thies have been sufficiently cultivated. The rearing of a 
family requires greater and longer continued sacrifice 
on the part of the parents than any other relation ; but if 
this sacrifice is made in a spirit of sympathy and love, 
it will, as has been shown in the chapter on sacrifice, 
greatly deepen the happiness of the givers. This is 
a cold mathematical demonstration of the desirability 
of a relation which experience proves to be one of 
the sweetest in this world. 

Nature has added another motive to* the conjugal 
relation in the physical and mental differences be- 
tween the sexes. The former holds good throughout 
the animal kingdom and indicates that the complete 
unit of life is the pair, rather than the individual. 
Among mankind the complementary character of the 
mental natures of the male and female also constitutes 
a strong motive to conjugal union. The normal man, 
with his more rugged strength, daring and intellect, 
feels a peculiar charm in woman, with her superior 
grace, gentleness and sensibilities; and vice versa. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 45 

And owing to their complementary natures, when 
sympathy and love are kindled (by the mutual per- 
ception of amiable traits, and the attraction and com- 
panionship which naturally result) between two per- 
sons of opposite sexes, the affection is apt to attain 
a far greater degree of strength than between persons 
of the same sex, and the happiness arising from such 
love is perhaps the greatest bliss which can be attained 
in this world. 

But, if the above corollaries from the law of love 
prove that the conjugal and parental relations may 
be sources of the highest degree of happiness, it also 
follows (and experience confirms this) that the per- 
version and abuse of these relations may be the source 
of the greatest misery. It is therefore of the greatest 
importance to apply the law of love correctly to the 
conjugal relations, and to develop our characters ac- 
cordingly. 

And in the first place, love demands that the con- 
jugal relation shall be permanent. If it is granted 
that the rearing of offspring is desirable, it is evident 
that both parents ought to continue their care of and 
provision for their children until the latter have 
reached maturity ; that is, the parents ought to remain 
united until the youngest child has grown up. And 
further, inasmuch as the care of the children is com- 
mitted by nature largely to the female (she being the 
nurse in infancy) ; and as this care, when properly 
given, necessitates her withdrawal from lucrative em- 
ployment for many years, so that at an advanced age 



46 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

she can hardly take up an independent life again, love 
dictates that the marriage union shall last throughout 
life. 

In the second place, love demands that the conjugal 
relation shall be exclusive. The proper physical care 
and mental culture of a human being during his first 
twenty years inevitably necessitate sacrifice on the part 
of the parents, and it is therefore manifestly unjust 
and unkind for either parent to form other intimacies, 
by which his or her affection, strength or means are 
divided or alienated from the spouse who devotes his 
or her entire affection, strength and means to their 
children and to the other party. And if both parents 
are alike unfaithful, the children are deprived of the 
undivided affection, care and solicitude of the parents, 
and are more or less neglected. And if love demands 
that we aid every human being toward the attainment 
of health and happiness to the full extent of our power, 
how much stronger is this demand in the case of the 
helpless young lives which we have brought into ex- 
istence! It cannot be denied that children are best 
cared for when both parents devote their united affec- 
tion and means exclusively to that end. Therefore it 
is evident that monogamy is the only conjugal relation 
which is in accord with perfect love: polygamy and 
polyandry can be defended only by the assumption 
that one or the other sex is inferior to the other, and 
that therefore justice and love do not demand the 
same consideration on both sides in the conjugal re- 
lation; and as there is no foundation in nature for 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 47 

the assumption which must be made, both practices 
are wrong and destructive of the highest degree of 
happiness. 

The above arguments in favor of a permanent and 
exclusive conjugal relation as the only sexual union 
which is in accordance with the law of love, the su- 
preme law for the attainment of human happiness, 
hold good as well when there is no offspring as when 
there are children. The man who fails to establish a 
permanent home for the woman with whom he unites, 
as a provision for possible offspring and a proper care 
for mother and child in such an event, may indeed 
have lust, but never can have love for the woman; 
for, if he had, he could not so cruelly jeopardize her 
health and happiness. And with the woman who 
prostitutes the highest function of her physical being 
for gain, there is never any pretense of love: it is 
simply a commercial bargain, and the ruin of health 
which usually follows shows what a bad bargain it is. 

While we are considering conjugal love, a few re- 
marks concerning its cultivation and regarding the 
domestic virtues may not be superfluous, although 
what has been said in the previous chapter regarding 
the cultivation of love applies equally to its cultivation 
between husband and wife. However, because of the 
exclusive nature of this relation, it is of the utmost 
importance for the continuance and growth of marital 
love that all conduct which may tend to arouse jeal- 
ousy be avoided, so that there may exist a perfect 
mutual trust and perfect mutual confidence in the 



48 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

fidelity of each other on both sides. Intimacies with 
the opposite sex, such as kisses and embraces, which 
are usually accompanied (between the sexes at ma- 
ture age) by a nascent idea of sexual relations, are 
therefore unwise; and for the same reason many 
forms of dancing and coquetry prevalent in various 
parts of the world should be avoided. And for like 
reasons, but in a much higher degree, all forms of 
indecency, obscenity and ribald mirth are not in ac- 
cordance with a sincere and pure love. 

Second in importance only to the avoidance of any 
semblance of infidelity by either spouse, is the neces- 
sity of seeking to attain identity of interests. If man 
and wife are to be truly united in love for life, there 
can be no withholding of possessions from each other; 
there must be a common ownership of all that they 
possess. As a matter of fact, where conjugal love is 
strong, so far from desiring to withhold from one 
another, each spouse is careful not to permit a greater 
provision for his or her well-being than the other will 
accept from the common store. Perfect love seeks 
the well-being of others as earnestly as its own, and 
the husband and wife who have a proper degree of 
love will never quarrel over the common possessions 
which their mutual efforts provide; they will bring 
into the common store as much as they can and will 
demand for their personal use only as much as they 
really need to maintain health and efficiency. 

Inasmuch as the discontinuance of the wife's earn- 
ing power in the establishment of a home, her addi- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 49 

tional support by the husband, and the expense of 
rearing a family naturally necessitate sacrifice in the 
conjugal relation by one or both parties (except in 
the comparatively rare cases of very large wealth), it 
is of great importance to domestic harmony and love, 
that both parents cultivate humility of mind, modest 
tastes, and inexpensive habits. If love for our fellow- 
men in general prompts us to lead as simple a life as 
is consistent with the highest degree of efficiency, in 
order that we may have a surplus with which to aid 
the sick, the unfortunate, and the erring, much more 
does it prompt us to simplicity and economy, in order 
to care properly for the helpless children for whose 
lives we are responsible, and for the spouse who be- 
stows his or her affection, tenderness and life-long 
companionship and care upon us. 

While the filial affection of the children should 
prompt them, when they arrive at mature age, to care 
for their parents during their declining years, the 
parents' love for their children should move them to 
seek the attainment of independence by industry, 
thrift and economy during their years of vigor and 
productiveness, not only to avoid placing upon the 
children the burden of caring for them in their old 
age, but in order to enable them to give their children 
the most favorable entrance upon an independent 
career. 

In concluding this chapter, it may be well to note 
that, in the present imperfect state of mankind, there 
may occur circumstances in which love demands ab- 



So THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

stention from marriage, as in the case of diseases 
which are transferable to offspring, and perhaps in 
the devastations of war or anarchy, possibly also in 
certain great life-works which would militate against 
a happy married life, or make it impossible. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PATRIOTISM : THE LAW OF LOVE APPLIED TO THE STATE 

There are many benefits which men living in a com- 
munity can obtain for themselves only by co-operative 
effort, and therefore love demands that we co-operate 
to the extent of our ability and means with our fellow- 
men for the common wealth. This is a plain corol- 
lary to the truth that the happiness of our fellow-men 
is reflected in our own minds, and that we cannot be 
perfectly happy until every other human being is like- 
wise. An unselfish and unmercenary public spirit is 
one of the highest manifestations of love, and is there- 
fore one of the greatest sources of joy to its possessor. 
The broader his activities and his influence, and the 
more universal the benefits of his service, the more 
continually do his sympathies respond with pleasure 
to the joys which he has assisted in producing, and 
the more generally does he enjoy the esteem and love 
of his countrymen. 

In order that public works may be carried on to 
the best advantage and public regulation may be most 
beneficial, it is necessary that the judgment of the 
majority regarding the desirability and the methods 
of prosecuting such works should be accepted by the 

5i 



52 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

dissenting minority, when there is not a unanimity 
of opinion. Otherwise a single citizen might thwart 
an improvement necessary to the entire community, 
such an improvement, for instance, as a trunk sewer; 
or he might menace the health of all by refusing to 
isolate a contagious disease. A proper spirit of love 
for the community, therefore, demands that we sub- 
ordinate our individual preferences to the will of the 
majority, in case we do not happen to agree with them, 
and that we submit to the regulations and laws ex- 
pressing the will of the majority and duly enacted 
for the commonwealth. 

Civic and national co-operation for the attainment 
of urban or national benefits, however, comprises but 
half the functions of government as it exists in the 
present stage of human civ'lization. The other half 
may be termed the repressive functions of government, 
consisting of the suppression of injustice between 
citizens, of vices which tend to undermine the public 
health, and of aggression upon the nation from with- 
out. It is evident that, if the characters of all the 
citizens of a community were based upon the prin- 
ciple that love is the supreme means of happiness, 
there would be no need of coercive measures to estab- 
lish justice, because, as we have seen, love not only 
implies plain justice toward others, but demands that 
we go beyond such negative consideration for them 
and actively seek to promote their well-being by kind- 
ness and sacrifice in their behalf. So, also, the avoid- 
ance of vices which injure the health of the individual, 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 53 

and by the law of heredity threaten the health of the 
nation, is a plain corollary to the law that health is 
the greatest physical source of happiness, and to the 
law that love toward all men is the supreme source 
of mental happiness. It follows, therefore, that love 
demands our voluntary compliance with the laws estab- 
lishing justice and virtue in the state. 

But the further question arises : Does love demand 
that we assist in forcing into compliance, through fear 
of pain and the actual infliction of pain when they 
transgress, those of our fellow-men who are unwilling 
to obey the laws enacted? While love demands that 
the government allow the utmost possible latitude to 
the individual in his pursuit of happiness and exercise 
forbearance, as long as there is hope that the sympa- 
thies of the individual are sufficiently developed to 
make him voluntarily have a proper consideration for 
the well-being of others; yet, as has been shown in 
the previous discussion of the limit of forbearance 
and forgiveness, when it is evident that the sympathy 
of a man is so little developed or has been rendered 
so callous that, as in the brutes, it cannot be appealed 
to, it is necessary for the public to restrain him from 
injuring other citizens; and for the same reason that 
we defend ourselves against such brutality, we should 
co-operate with the community and the nation in its 
suppression and eradication. While all such infliction 
of pain, though necessary for the common weal, 
causes reflected pain in the minds of law-abiding citi- 
zens, it seems to be the least evil possible in the present 



54 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

imperfect state of mankind, and unalloyed happiness 
cannot be attained in this world until the coercive 
functions of government have become unnecessary. 
To this end, namely, the reform of the erring and 
their conversion to a voluntary obedience to the laws, 
all penal measures should be directed. 

The above remarks regarding individual aggression 
upon a citizen apply equally well to aggression from 
without upon the body politic by other nations or 
tribes. Until an international tribunal clothed with 
authority and power sufficient to enforce its decisions 
throughout the world shall have been established 
(which is the logical completion of the present 
method of governing the people of the world), the 
law of love requires not only justice between nations, 
but forbearance in many of the comparatively trivial 
frictions which have in past ages been made the oc- 
casions of international carnage and widespread mis- 
ery. 

If the nation in which we live is clearly the aggressor 
in a war with a neighboring nation, the law of love 
demands that we refuse our support or countenance 
to such wholesale murder. So, also, when the gov- 
erning group is clearly plundering and oppressing the 
people whom they govern, love demands that we de- 
cline to aid or abet such tyranny over our fellow-men. 
It is better to suffer the loss of property, of liberty, 
and, if need be, of life itself, than to deaden our sym- 
pathies and kill the love existing in us toward our 
neighbors. The sacrifice of life, if it is necessary in 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 55 

refusing to become the tool of unscrupulous ambi- 
tion or of heartless tyranny, again assumes (as has 
been shown in a previous chapter) that there is a 
future life, a question which will be discussed later. 
Without this assumption there must here again be 
an irreconcilable clash between the preservation of 
life and the attainment of happiness. 

It may be well to note, in closing these remarks 
upon patriotism, that the necessity for a large part 
of the repressive functions of government arises from 
the lack of love and active kindness on the part of 
the capable and fortunate toward the less capable 
and the unfortunate. Love requires that we produce 
according to our ability and consume only according 
to our needs; that we live as simply as is consistent 
with perfect health and efficiency and devote the re- 
mainder of our means to provision for family, for 
old age, and for the welfare of our neighbor. When 
this standard replaces the rapacity, luxury and selfish- 
ness which so frequently characterize the wealthy at 
present, much of the want and misery which now 
drive men to despair and crime will vanish. When 
love becomes universal, there will be no more need 
of laws for the protection of life and property among 
mankind generally than there is at present in the 
conjugal relation, or between true friends. 



CHAPTER IX 
philanthropy: the law of love applied to the 

RACE 

If the laws governing human welfare have been 
correctly set forth in the preceding chapters, and it 
has been demonstrated that love is the supreme source 
of happiness, it follows as a plain corollary that the 
broader our sympathies become and the wider the 
circle of human beings embraced in our kindness, 
good-will and love, the more multiplied will be the 
sources of sympathetic happiness; and the logical 
conclusion is that, when our love includes all man- 
kind, every human being entering our cognizance will 
be a source of joy to us, and we shall attain the 
greatest degree of happiness possible in the present 
imperfect state of man. And as our efforts and the 
efforts of all other philanthropists gradually reduce 
the vast amount of unnecessary pain and sorrow now 
existing in the world, our sympathetic pleasures will 
be proportionately increased and our sympathetic sor- 
rows proportionately diminished. This being so, it is 
clear that the highest development of character is the 
cultivation of love toward every fellow-being regard- 
less of race or color, of class or caste, of nation or 

56 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 57 

religion, of education or illiteracy, of wealth or pov- 
erty. The kindness and the sacrifice which have been 
proven in a previous chapter to be sources of happi- 
ness and springs of mutual friendship and love should 
be practiced without partiality toward every one in 
the world whom our lives may in any way affect. 
It should be our aim to outgrow provincialism, na- 
tionalism and race limits, and regard every man a 
brother, treating him not merely with justice, but 
seeking by active sympathy and kindness to diminish 
his ills and to promote his well-being and happiness. 

At the present time the whole world is so closely 
bound together by commerce, by travel, and by mail 
and telegraphic communication, that none of the civi- 
lized nations can suffer a great calamity without af- 
fecting more or less every other commercial nation 
of the world. A failure of the wheat crop in America 
or Russia affects every inhabitant of Great Britain; 
a dangerous epidemic in Italy or China immediately 
affects New York or San Francisco and through them 
the entire United States ; a financial panic in England 
profoundly affects all France and Germany. With 
each new invention for bridging space and annihilat- 
ing time the solidarity of the race is more fully es- 
tablished, and political and natural boundaries assume 
diminished importance. 

This trend, as we have seen, is in harmony with 
the law of human development and happiness, and 
the law of love demands that we aid, to the full ex- 
tent of our ability, in all movements for the uplifting 



58 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

of .mankind, whether for physical aid in widespread 
calamities, such as earthquakes, famines, plagues, con- 
flagrations, etc., — a work such as the International 
Red Cross Society is doing; whether for the estab- 
lishment of international law and justice and the 
abolition of warfare, — a work which is engaging the 
attention of the Hague Tribunal, the League of Na- 
tions, and the various international peace societies; 
or whether for the educational and moral improve- 
ment of benighted races, — a work which is being 
prosecuted by associations of unselfish people in many 
lands. 

If we would cultivate this spirit of universal 
philanthropy, the first step is to acquaint ourselves 
with the condition of our fellow-men, by a study of 
political and industrial conditions in the world and 
the history leading up to them, by informing ourselves 
of current events and tendencies of large importance, 
by travel and observation, and by attention to the ut- 
terances and views of the wisest and most public spir- 
ited men in the various countries. If, as we have 
seen, love grows out of sympathy, and sympathy is a 
reflection of or a response to the feelings of others, 
there must be a perception of those feelings and a 
knowledge of the condition of our fellow-men before 
we can love them to any extent. 

Perhaps the chief hindrances to the universal 
brotherhood of man have hitherto been racial preju- 
dice and religious bigotry. The trivial fact of dif- 
ference in language and customs has for ages kept 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 59 

neighboring peoples at enmity, in mutual insecurity, 
and in constant warfare or preparation for war with 
each other. And difference in religious faith or meth- 
ods of worship has up to the present time kept various 
sections of the human race almost as completely ig- 
norant of and indifferent to one another, as though 
they were of entirely different worlds. The law of 
love demands that we discountenance all such preju- 
dice and bigotry, and that we decline to take part in 
the international carnage and plunder caused by the 
one, or the persecution, torture and distress caused 
by the other. 

Class and caste distinctions have also played their 
part in almost all countries in keeping men from a 
proper sympathy with and love for their fellows. In- 
stead of employing their larger means and greater 
abilities in the uplifting of the poor and down-trodden, 
the so-called noble classes have hitherto employed 
them in fortifying their own exclusive privileges and 
in guarding their so-called prerogative of living in 
luxury at the expense of their fellow-men. The same 
thing may be said of the various castes of Oriental 
countries and of the aristocracy of wealth in some 
of the younger republics of the world. But in vain 
do men pursue happiness over the dead bodies of their 
fellows. As we have seen, our own happiness cannot 
be attained by any course which thwarts the welfare 
and happiness of those about us. The law of love 
therefore demands that we discountenance all meas- 
ures to establish or uphold iniquitous discrimination 



60 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

between man and man, whether such measures are 
partisan, national or international; and that we seek 
to give every man, whether of our own nation and 
race or of another, a fair and equal opportunity to 
secure the necessities and the pleasures of life. The 
truly noble and the real upper classes are those who 
use their superior education, ability and wealth for 
the aid of the poof, the ignorant, the weak, the un- 
fortunate, and the erring. 

One more obstacle to universal love must be no- 
ticed here. It is that narrow form of patriotism 
which is willing to benefit its own country at the ex- 
pense of other countries, which shows itself in laws 
excluding men coming from less fortunate lands, and 
in the short-sighted policy of excluding the products 
of other lands by prohibitive tariffs. The law of love 
demands that men be permitted to seek their fortunes 
wherever they think that they will be happiest, and 
that each section of the world shall produce such 
things as it can supply to the best advantage, and ex- 
change its products freely with other sections for the 
things in which they are by nature fitted to excel, re- 
gardless of the arbitrary political boundaries existing. 
The argument, that a nation's standard of wages and 
comfort may be lowered, is answered by the fact 
that another nation's standard is raised; and if the 
argument for justice and equity between individuals 
in a previous chapter holds good, the same argument 
applies to the relations of nations to one another. 



CHAPTER X 

LOVE TOWARD GOD 

The Existence and Character of God 

The principles thus far laid down have been dem- 
onstrated from the constitution of man itself, and 
their truth can be tested by every man through his 
own consciousness. The highest degree of human 
happiness has been shown to depend upon the per- 
fection of our sympathy with all of our fellow-men, 
and it has been seen that perfect mutual sympathy 
between human beings gives rise to mutual love, which 
is therefore the supreme means of happiness. In the 
application of the law of love to the conditions and 
relations of life, however, we have seen that the as- 
sumption of a future life is necessary, if the demands 
of love are to be followed to their logical limits; as 
there are circumstances (in the present imperfect state 
of man) under which love requires the sacrifice of 
life itself on behalf of others; and, unless there is a 
future life, there can be no possible motive for the 
sacrifice of life itself, even though hundreds of other 
lives could be saved by such a sacrifice. The neces- 
sity of preserving his very existence must always be 

61 



62 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

greater, to one who does not believe in a future life, 
than any motive to a course of conduct which would 
tend to heighten the enjoyment of that existence. 
There must therefore (if there is no future life) be 
a permanent and irreconcilable discord between the 
laws governing human happiness and the necessity of 
preserving the bodily life. The question of a future 
life is therefore of vital importance in the development 
of character and the pursuit of happiness. 

There is an additional reason for the consideration 
of this momentous question. Every human being has 
an innate desire and longing for a permanent and 
eternal life: every man can prove the truth of this 
statement in his own case through his own conscious- 
ness. And the records of religions and philosophies 
from the earliest ages prove that this craving is a uni- 
versal trait of human nature. 

We may further reason that, if there is a form of 
life in which the possessors are not subject to material 
changes and decay, it would afford minds constituted 
as the human mind is a far greater opportunity for 
the attainment of happiness, for the reason that there 
would not be any painful sympathies aroused, and 
therefore no sorrow or misery mingled with the joys 
which result from mutual love. 

The question of a future life implies the existence 
of other intelligent life beside that of physical man 
in the universe. It also postulates benevolent char- 
acter and sufficient power in such being or beings to 
give eternal life to us. If it can be shown that there 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 63 

is a Being who both will and can give us eternal life, 
we shall be certain that there is a future life. 

What evidence is there of the existence and char- 
acter of any intelligence other than the human in the 
universe ? In order to simplify our inquiry, it is well 
to note first the perfect harmony of natural law 
throughout the universe, or at least as far as our 
most powerful telescopes give us knowledge of the 
universe. From this unity we may reasonably con- 
clude that, if there is superhuman intelligence, the 
possessor of it is either one, or if many, they are at 
one in purpose; so that we may inquire simply as to 
the existence and character of one superhuman Being 
or God. 

And in the first place, the fact that our bodily 
senses do not perceive God does not prove that He 
does not exist. For it is well known that our senses 
are limited in their scope and are incapable of per- 
ceiving even all the material phenomena in the world. 
We know that there are other colors in the spectrum 
outside the band of color perceptible to the eye. In 
sounds, we know that above a certain pitch the mu- 
sical vibrations are inaudible to our ears. In touch, 
beyond a range of a few hundred degrees heat and 
cold alike produce no sensation of temperature, but 
only the identical sensation of pain: while the ther- 
mometer may register several thousands of degrees 
of heat, the sense of human touch can perceive only 
a few hundred. And electricity may cross the ocean 
utterly beyond the detection of any of our unaided 



64 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

senses, and yet by instrumental means its presence is 
readily perceived and its message read. These illus- 
trations clearly indicate that there may be many phe- 
nomena, both material and mental, which are imper- 
ceptible to our senses, and therefore the fact that we 
do not see God is not conclusive proof that He does 
not exist. 

Proceeding to the evidence of God's existence, we 
find everywhere upon this earth a phenomenon called 
life. In all of the multitude of forms in which life 
appears, there is one unvarying cause of its existence. 
Life comes only from pre-existing life, as far as our 
observation of this phenomenon extends, covering the 
entire world and the entire historical period of man's 
existence upon earth. While the absence of any 
known exceptions to the law, that only life produces 
life, is not an absolute demonstration that there can 
be no such exception; still a causal relation as long 
and as widely observed as this is, without a single 
exception, creates the highest degree of probability 
that the cause assigned is absolutely necessary to the 
effect. And if this is admitted, there must be an 
original life or living Being, from which all life in 
this and other worlds has proceeded, — there must be 
a living God. And inasmuch as the living God is not 
clothed in material form, perceptible to our senses, it 
is not reasonable to suppose that His life is subject 
to the change and decay to which the forms of life 
embodied in matter are subject. It is not unreason- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 65 

able to suppose that the living God is free from change 
and is eternal. 

When this conclusion, which is shown to be highly 
probable upon the preceding premises, is reached with 
the same high degree of probability by other entirely 
independent lines of research, then the conclusion be- 
comes a moral certainty as sure as the large majority 
of conclusions upon which we shape our daily actions. 
Looking again at the universe, therefore, it is an un- 
deniable fact that there exists an inconceivable amount 
of heat and motion in it. Confining our attention to 
the solar system, the sun is a revolving mass of molten 
or gaseous matter ; the earth at one time was also evi- 
dently a molten mass, and has even now formed only 
a thin solid crust, through which occasional volcanic 
eruptions force portions of the molten interior. The 
moon also bears incontestable evidence of former heat, 
which in its case has been dissipated to a much greater 
degree, probably due to its smaller size. Heat and 
motion are convertible into each other; the motion in 
the solar system might have produced the heat, or the 
heat might have produced the motion; but in all the 
range of our observation of the whole universe, there 
is but one thing that originates heat and motion, and 
that is life. While chemical action produces heat, pre- 
vious motion is required to bring the chemical elements 
together; and although chemical transference of mo- 
tion into heat and of heat into motion has been going 
on in the world for a long time, yet it is evident that 
both the earth and the moon, not to speak of other 



66 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

planets, have lost a large part of their heat, and we 
are therefore brought to the inevitable conclusion that 
there must have been an original source of the vast 
heat and motion in the universe; and as far as our 
knowledge of the universe extends, there is but one 
originator of heat and motion — life. We are there- 
fore brought again by a second independent line of 
argument to the highly probable conclusion that there 
is a living God at the beginning of all things, the origi- 
nal source of the heat which has been gradually dimin- 
ishing in the solar system, and probably also in the 
other stellar systems. 

A third line of argument, entirely independent of 
the two preceding, leads with the same high degree 
of probability to the conclusion that there is not only 
a living Being, who is the Author of the universe, but 
that He is an intelligent Being as well. The world 
presents strong evidence of the adjustment of numer- 
ous and entirely independent means to a single end; 
and, as far as our observation extends, there is but 
one originator of a complex adjustment of numerous 
means to a single end, and that is an intelligent being. 
And the measure of such intelligence is the increas- 
ing perfection with which numerous causes are com- 
bined and arranged to effect the end desired. 

The preservation of rational life upon this earth is 
the end toward which so many of the phenomena of 
nature tend, that it is a moral certainly that such 
phenomena originated from an intelligent Being. Take 
the phenomena of temperature as an example. Mun- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 67 

dane life can exist only between the limits of a few 
hundred degrees of temperature, while the thermome- 
ter registers the existence of thousands of degrees 
beyond those limits. Tending to keep the temperature 
of the earth's surface within the narrow limits in 
which life is possible, there are a number of natural 
phenomena, any one of which alone might be con- 
sidered a mere accident; but when all of them are 
considered as conspiring to that single object, the evi- 
dence of a guiding intelligence amounts to a practical 
certainty. In the first place, then, we find that the 
earth's axis of rotation is not perpendicular to the 
plane of its orbit, but is inclined sufficiently to prevent 
the sun's rays from falling continually perpendicularly 
upon the equatorial region (which would doubtless 
have produced a degree of heat there that would have 
been utterly destructive of human life) ; and at the 
same time we find that the earth revolves rapidly upon 
ita axis, which prevents the sun's rays from falling 
perpendicularly for any appreciable length of time 
upon any one spot of the earth; which arrangements, 
with the annual motion of the earth around the sun 
(which alternately presents the upper polar region and 
the lower polar region for a higher angle of incidence 
to the sun's rays) produce the evenest possible dis- 
tribution of the heat received from the sun. 

Nor is this all. Three-fourths of the earth's surface 
is covered with water, which acts as a vast equalizer 
and reservoir of the heat received from the sun, ab- 
sorbing in its ocean depths the excessive heat of sum- 



68 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

mer and yielding it again when the sun's direct heat 
is insufficient. Furthermore, owing to its liquid nature 
numerous currents are set in motion by natural laws, 
which currents carry the hot water to the colder lati- 
tudes, and the cold water of the frigid zones to the 
overheated tropics, thus further distributing the sun's 
heat. Atmospheric currents obeying the same natural 
laws assist in a similar manner in the equalization of 
temperature. 

But there are still other arrangements tending to 
keep the temperature of the earth's surface within 
the extremely narrow limits which we can endure. 
At 32 ° and 212 Fahrenheit water (that is, three- 
fourths of the earth's surface) presents a most re- 
markable phenomenon tending to keep its tempera- 
ture within these moderate limits. In freezing at the 
lower temperature it yields a large amount of latent 
heat, which does not make it a single degree colder; 
and in boiling or evaporating at the higher tempera- 
ture it absorbs an enormous amount of heat, without 
growing a single degree hotter. The importance of 
these admirable devices for resisting extreme fluctua- 
tions of temperature, which might easily result in 
widespread disaster, if not in the annihilation of the 
human race, can scarcely be conceived. 

In spite of these wonderfully intelligent provisions 
for keeping the earth's temperature within the limits 
of human endurance, it is probable that life could not 
have existed upon earth (at least outside the tropical 
zone) had there not been a unique exception made to 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 69 

an otherwise universal law of nature. The universal 
law referred to is, that all substances contract upon 
cooling and when changing from a gaseous to a liquid 
state or from a liquid to a solid state. The liquid or 
solid is always heavier than the previous gas or liquid. 
Water (three-fourths of the earth's surface, be it 
remembered) is the solitary exception to this universal 
law. While it contracts almost to its freezing point, 
it then again expands, so that ice is lighter than water 
and floats upon it. Were this not the case, it is ex- 
tremely probable that in a few winters all bodies of 
water would freeze solidly from bottom to top, and 
the summer sun would not be sufficient to thaw them. 
The disastrous effect of this upon temperature and 
human life can hardly be estimated. That it would 
vastly increase (by destroying ocean currents) the 
cold of the temperate and frigid zones, and would 
probably as greatly increase the heat of the torrid 
zone, seems inevitable. 

Here, then, are eight distinct phenomena (the last 
of which shows the very finger of God), all tending 
to the one end of keeping the temperature of the 
earth's surface within the compass of a few hundred 
degrees, beyond which in either direction life would 
be impossible; and while one of these phenomena, 
taken alone, might be considered an accident, all of 
them taken together afford a moral certainty that they 
are due to intelligence; and as intelligence implies 
life, we are led by a third independent line of argu- 
ment to the conclusion that there is a living God, 



70 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

whom the present argument proves to be an intelli- 
gent Being. 

It proves more than that. If it is true that life 
affords a surplus of pleasure over pain, the intelli- 
gence which provides for its continuance upon earth 
must be accompanied by a benevolent disposition to- 
ward us. The benevolence of God toward mankind, 
while not absolutely demonstrable by a single benefi- 
cent phenomenon of nature, may be proven to a moral 
certainty by a number of independent phenomena, each 
leading to the highly probable conclusion that the su- 
preme Being loves us, and as benevolence implies in- 
telligence (being intelligence directed by good- will), 
the arguments to prove the benevolence of God sup- 
port the previous argument as well. 

To discuss all the laws and phenomena of nature 
that tend to preserve and perfect life upon earth, 
would be to traverse practically the whole of the na- 
tural sciences (as far as our limited knowledge of 
them extends) ; but for our present purpose it will 
be sufficient to point out enough independent phe- 
nomena displaying benevolence, to satisfy a reasonable 
mind, that the Author of this world loves us. Let us 
consider our own physical and mental constitution. 
The nervous system is so arranged as to give a warn- 
ing pain at the approach of any degree of heat or 
cold that would endanger life, and to call attention 
almost irresistibly to any wound which might threaten 
the continuance of the organism. The muscular sys- 
tem, unlike the depreciation of an inorganic machine, 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 71 

thrives and improves with use, and the greatest amount 
of strength is automatically concentrated upon the 
muscles which are most strongly called into action. 
An injury to the body, unlike an injury to an inor- 
ganic mechanism, tends by an automatic process to 
heal and disappear, instead of increasing and disabling 
the mechanism. The human body possesses a very 
diffused power of adapting itself to the various ex- 
tremes of climate, which we call acclimatizing. 

It is a well-known fact that the sexual passion is 
stronger in the perfectly healthy than in the feeble 
and imperfect, and thus by a natural process there 
is a greater tendency in the perfect organism to repro- 
duce its type than in the imperfect organism. This 
natural selection is obviously a very benevolent ar- 
rangement, tending toward a perfectly healthy race; 
that is, toward a race enjoying the greatest possible 
physical happiness. The offspring of the maimed or 
imperfect tends to revert to the perfect type. The 
benevolence of all these independent physical phenom- 
ena is too evident for comment. 

Turning to the mental constitution of the highest 
form of intelligent life upon earth, we find, as has 
been shown previously, that the mind is constituted 
with an innate and irresistible inclination toward 
agreeable sensations and an aversion to their opposite ; 
further, that the mind reflects the pleasures and pains 
of those surrounding us, and that therefore we are 
prompted to promote the welfare and happiness of 
one another. The benevolence of such an arrange- 



72 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

ment, considered merely as a means conducive to 
general physical welfare, is evident, and if the human 
mind were constituted with the opposite inclination, 
the race would doubtless be extinct. 

Many other instances of benevolence revealed in 
nature might be cited, such as the universal distribu- 
tion of water, the most necessary substance for main- 
taining human life; the conservation of water in the 
form of vegetables; the abundance of vegetation and 
its function of preparing the mineral substances in 
a form that the higher forms of life can assimilate; 
the provision made ages ago in the coal-beds for sup- 
plementing the disappearing heat from the interior of 
the earth and the declining heat of the sun ; but enough 
phenomena have been cited, each pointing independ- 
ently to the existence not only of intelligence but also 
of good-will in the supreme Being, to prove to a moral 
certainty that God desires human welfare, or in other 
words, that He loves us. 

It may, however, be said that there are other phe- 
nomena which, by the same method of reasoning, 
would prove ill-will toward man in the supreme Being ; 
for instance, earthquakes, conflagrations, floods, dis- 
ease, and death. To all of these objections except 
the last the sufficient answer is, that the human race 
continues not only to exist, but to grow in physical 
welfare, in comfort, in intelligence, and in mutual 
sympathy; and that therefore the final result shows 
that the preponderance of evidence from natural law 
must be in favor of its subservience to human well- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 73 

being; that is, must be in favor of the benevolence 
of God. A further answer is, that by far the largest 
part of human suffering is due to our ignorance and 
sinfulness. 

If death is regarded as the annihilation of life, then 
it is indeed an incontrovertible proof of either ill-will 
or lack of power in God; but the premise begs the 
very question which we are examining. If death is 
regarded as a birth into the real life — that is, as a 
transference of the human mind from the limited ex- 
istence which it has while embodied in flesh to some 
larger sphere and manner of life — then, however mys- 
terious it may appear to us now, it is by no means an 
evidence of the ill-will of God toward us. In fact, it 
seems evident that, if there is an eternal life, it can 
be reached only through death, as this world at pres- 
ent is constituted; for to live upon earth eternally 
would be obviously impossible, with the prolific power 
of reproduction which man possesses ; and to transfer 
our present physical body even to the nearest other 
planet (assuming that natural conditions in that planet 
would admit of physical life such as our present form 
of existence) would, under the natural laws existing, 
be impossible, owing to the absence of atmosphere. 
These remarks, however, are not intended as an ex- 
planation of the necessity of death, in order to enter 
the eternal life; but are meant simply to show that, 
on the assumption of a future life, death is not an 
evidence of divine ill-will toward man. 

Having shown, therefore, that there is an intelli- 



74 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

gent God, who loves us, and who must therefore de- 
sire our eternal life and happiness, the final question 
remains, whether the power of God is sufficient to 
accomplish what His love makes Him seek. As far 
as mere dynamic force is concerned, there is displayed 
in our solar system alone (not to speak of the myriads 
of other systems) an amount of energy that, to our 
limited conception, is absolutely inconceivable and 
infinite. And when the power of intelligence is con- 
sidered, the wisdom of God as displayed in the uni- 
verse about us is so perfect, and yet so simple and 
unobtrusive, that man after all these ages is but be- 
ginning to interpret nature and understand natural 
laws. The highest intelligence of man can only dimly 
think God's thoughts after Him. And when we con- 
sider the wonderful things that man has accomplished, 
with his slight knowledge of natural laws, from the 
manufacture of steel to the wireless telegraph, it is 
impossible for our minds to set any bounds to the 
wisdom of God, and we may fairly consider Him 
omniscient. It is not unreasonable to suppose that 
a God all-powerful and all-wise can accomplish what- 
ever He wishes to do. 

But there is more to be said. In the ordinary course 
of nature there are things somewhat analogous to a 
continuance of life after death, and these phenomena 
give added specific assurance of the sufficient power 
of God, supplementing that derived from the preced- 
ing general reasoning. In the colder zones we see 
practically the whole vegetable kingdom to all ap- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 75 

pearances die with the approach of Winter and rise 
to a new life with the returning warmth of the sun 
in the Spring. The plants bearing seed wither and 
die, and the seeds, to all appearances lifeless, have 
been known to lie inert for hundreds of years, and in 
certain cases in the Egyptian pyramids, for perhaps 
several thousands of years; and yet, when placed in 
their proper relations to soil, moisture and sunshine, 
they spring up as though but a day had elapsed since 
their separation from the parent plant. It is admitted, 
that these are not perfect analogies ; but they are suffi- 
ciently accurate to assure us that a future life would 
be easily within the power of God to grant. 

The analogy of the caterpillar turning into the but- 
terfly is perhaps the most perfect analogy to the 
resurrection of man which can be found in nature. 
If God can take the creeping caterpillar out of its 
extremely limited groveling upon the ground, and can 
change it into the beautiful butterfly, whose world is 
a thousand times vaster in extent, why cannot He take 
the physical man out of this little ball of earth, and 
through death set him free to inhabit as a spirit the 
boundless universe? 

We conclude, therefore, that there is a God of 
infinite intelligence, power and love, whose existence 
and character are an absolute guaranty to us that the 
deepest craving of our being for everlasting life and 
happiness will be realized. If this is true, the obvious 
corollary is, that it is of supreme and eternal impor- 
tance to us, in the development of our characters, to 



76 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

know God and to love Him. For if love of our fellow- 
men affords the highest degree of happiness of which 
we are capable in this world, love of a Being of perfect 
and changeless goodness, and of eternal life and per- 
fect happiness, a Being not subject to any of the vicis- 
situdes of human life, must afford a bliss that we 
cannot in this life conceive. 



CHAPTER XI 

LOVE TOWARD GOD 

Acquaintance with God 

We have seen that love arises from mutual sym- 
pathy between two intelligent beings, and that sym- 
pathy with another mind implies a previous knowledge 
of the state of that mind, or, in a familiar phrase, 
an acquaintance with the person. And how shall we 
become acquainted with God, who is beyond the scope 
of our physical senses, and whose intelligence and 
plans are far beyond the grasp of our present mental 
capacity? While we may not hope to understand in 
this life perfectly the wisdom and benevolence of 
God, we may obtain a sufficiently clear perception of 
His good-will toward us, from our present limited 
knowledge of His creation, to kindle within us a love 
for Him and a trust in Him that will ever urge us 
toward a closer acquaintance with Him and will afford 
us an increasing happiness. 

To point out all the evidences of good-will toward 
man in the universe would be to outline practically 
all of the natural sciences known to man, and would 
be beyond the present purpose. We will therefore 

77 



78 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

merely note a few salient facts, to illustrate the method 
by which we may perceive the goodness of God in the 
phenomena and laws of nature, rather than to demon- 
strate that all of those phenomena and laws prove 
the love of God toward us. Beginning with astronomy, 
and confining our attention to its findings regarding 
our earth (upon which alone our limited knowledge 
is certain of the existence of life) we have seen in 
the previous chapter how admirably adapted to the 
preservation of life are the phenomena of the earth's 
axial inclination, its diurnal rotation, and its annual 
revolution. It is doubtful whether man could exist 
upon the larger part of the earth's surface, if at all, 
were any of these three phenomena omitted. 

Geology and astronomy both afford evidences that 
the earth was originally a gaseous or molten mass, 
which, cooling, formed a crust of rock ; and a large 
part of the science of geology consists of a description 
of the pulverizing of this rocky surface, the wearing 
down of the jagged and enormous mountains thrown 
up by the internal forces, and the preparation of a 
soil capable of sustaining life and making the exist- 
ence of man possible upon earth. In its description 
of less remote time, geology reveals the far-seeing 
goodness of God, in laying aside vast beds of coal for 
the use of man, when the internal heat of the earth 
should have disappeared and artificial heat should be 
required. Physics and chemistry show us how the 
process of preserving and improving the earth's soil 
is being continued at the present time by the action of 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 79 

flowing water, of thawing and freezing, of glacier 
and avalanche; and how this soil is watered and ren- 
dered fruitful by the action of evaporation, winds and 
rainfall. Botany reveals the beneficence of an ar- 
rangement by which the mineral substances are pre- 
pared in a form of food which the human body can 
assimilate. Biology, as has been mentioned in the 
previous chapter, reveals benevolence in the arrange- 
ment for the increased propagation of the more perfect 
and the decreased propagation of the less perfect, in 
the inherent tendencies toward healing, toward accli- 
matization, toward reversion to type. Sociology most 
clearly reveals the goodness of God in the indissoluble 
connection between brotherly love and happiness, thus 
prompting all to work together for the common good. 

A study of the universe, however, is not the only 
method of becoming acquainted with God's goodness 
and of learning to love Him. When we desire to 
become acquainted with a man, we do not simply study 
his works, whether architectural, engineering, literary 
or commercial: we seek a direct conversation with 
him, by which we obtain a far better understanding 
of his character, a far greater sympathy with him, and 
in consequence, a far warmer friendship and love to- 
ward him than is possible from the dim perception 
of his character as shown in his works. 

But can we hold communication with the invisible 
God? Does God have a personal interest in His 
creatures, as a father has in his offspring ; or does He 
leave the human race, like the inanimate world, en- 



80 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

tirely to the play of natural law? If, as has been 
shown, all nature indicates an active, intelligent good- 
will toward man on the part of God, it follows that, 
with His inscrutable wisdom, He must be able and 
must be inclined to take a personal interest in the 
welfare of each individual human being, however 
humble. And if man is able to converse across a 
continent by telephone, or even without wires to con- 
vey his thoughts across the vast ocean, it is very rea- 
sonable to suppose that, with His incomparably su- 
perior intelligence, God can read and understand every 
prayer to Him formed in our minds, and can interpret 
our longings for a better life more perfectly than we 
can express them. 

And if it is granted that this life must of necessity 
be but a preparation for the real, eternal life to come, 
and that therefore God's love must frequently decline 
our prayers for material things, we can be sure that 
our prayers are received by God, in precisely the same 
way in which we are sure that our wire or wireless 
message has reached its destination, — by the answer 
received. It is safe to say that no man ever prayed 
sincerely to God to be made a better man who was 
not made a better man by the very prayer. Looking 
at life in the light of eternity, and realizing that the 
object of this brief earthly preparation is the develop- 
ment of a character that will be a source of eternal 
happiness to us in our future relations with intelligent 
beings and with God Himself, it is evident from the 
preceding pages that the burden of our prayers should 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 81 

be directed to the cultivation of love toward man and 
toward God. And if our prayers are thus directed, 
the answer to them is never wanting. No man can 
sincerely pray the supreme Being for kindness toward 
a fellow-man without finding his mind inclined to 
such kindness by the very effort of making the 
petition. 

Any man can test the truth of the foregoing re- 
marks for himself, and to those who have thus tested 
God's hearing and answering a prayer for righteous- 
ness, nothing more need be said. But, as an explana- 
tion of a natural phenomenon greatly strengthens the 
evidence of its reality, so we may note regarding 
prayer that God has so constituted the human mind 
that a sincere desire or longing for a better life, ex- 
pressed in prayer, inclines the mind itself strongly 
toward such better life, and so the prayer insures its 
own answer; and if the prayer is persistently and re- 
peatedly formed in the mind, the fixed inclination 
which we call habit is formed, and thus the character 
is permanently moulded into the forms of righteous- 
ness for which we pray. So, likewise, a sincere and 
hearty prayer against a temptation or inclination to 
do wrong itself so strengthens the aversion to the 
wrong within us, and so clearly keeps before our 
minds the real relative importance of the immediate 
pleasure from the wrong-doing, and the far greater, 
though more distant pain which would result, that 
such a petition also insures its own answer. Let no 
man say that such results are the less answers from 



82 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

God to our prayers because His provident wisdom 
and love have made the answer to a good prayer in- 
separable from the sincere asking itself. It is rather 
but another evidence of His goodness. 

In what manner communion with God increases our 
perception of His goodness and increases our love to 
Him and trust in Him, thus giving us the beginning 
of a happiness greater than any other of which we 
are capable, is not easy to explain. It may be that 
the moulding of our own characters by prayer more 
into harmony with the character of God enables us 
to perceive more clearly His love, as displayed in na- 
ture and in His providence; or, it may be that God, 
in imparting His spirit of universal love to us in 
answer to our sincere and constant prayers, reveals 
His love directly to our minds, and gradually en- 
lightens our intellects so that we can begin to grasp it. 
Though we may be unable to grasp the manner of 
God's revelation of Himself to us in prayer, it is very 
reasonable to suppose and indeed very probable that 
He would do so, if He is a Being of wisdom and love 
infinitely beyond our present conception. And that 
He does thus reveal Himself to those who sincerely 
seek to live according to the law of universal love, 
and who earnestly pray God for guidance and help in 
attaining such a character, may be tested by any man 
in his own experience. While God does not trammel 
or overawe our freedom of choice between good and 
evil by a compelling demonstration of His presence 
and His resistless power, still myriads of men in all 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 83 

ages have testified that their experience assured them 
of the reality of direct communion between man and 
his Maker, and they have considered this relation the 
most important, the most permanent, and the most 
blessed in their lives. 

Habitual prayer produces in us a calmness and peace 
superior to the fluctuations of earthly prosperity or 
adversity, and a trust in God's guidance that robs 
earthly sorrows and trials of their bitterness and re- 
moves fear, anxiety and worry from our lives. Prayer 
is the fountainhead of true contentment, of humility, 
and of patience. If we are persuaded of God's power 
and love, of His immediate presence and His interest 
in us and in our prayers, the cares of life disappear, 
and the preponderance of joy in life (as discussed in 
a previous chapter) becomes immeasurably greater. 



CHAPTER XII 

LOVE TOWARD GOD 

Fellowship with God 

If it has been shown that love toward God is the 
source of the greatest and most enduring happiness 
of which we are capable, its cultivation must be of 
supreme importance in the proper development of 
character. We have seen, that in order to love God, 
we must first perceive His goodness and understand 
His sympathy with us and His good- will toward us. 
Such acquaintance with the supreme Being, we have 
learned, is obtained through a frank, honest study of 
the world about us, and by a frank, sincere commu- 
nion directly with God through prayer. 

The next step in the love of God is the assimilation 
of our own characters to His character. It is a law 
of the human mind that the sympathies of persons of 
like characters, dispositions and ambitions respond to 
each other far more perfectly, and a far profounder 
attachment and love between such minds is possible, 
than between persons of opposite principles and prac- 
tices. The same law holds good in the human mind, 
in its relation to the divine Mind. When our char- 

84 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 85 

acters begin to harmonize with the great love shown 
in all nature, we find that our sympathies become at- 
tuned with those of God, and we unconsciously and 
almost inevitably begin to love Him. We begin to 
feel a perennial joy welling up within us, that attracts 
us more and more to the Father of our spirits, and 
makes communion and fellowship with Him more 
precious to us than any of the transitory pleasures of 
life. We feel that our relation with God is our one 
immovable anchorage in a fleeting and changing ex- 
istence. Though we may not fully understand the 
manner in which our Father breathes such joy and 
comfort into the minds of His children, it is entirely 
reasonable to believe in the reality of such direct com- 
munion between the Creator and His intelligent crea- 
tures. The closer our fellowship with God becomes, 
and the more constantly His goodness is in our con- 
templation and our prayers, the more fully are our 
characters moulded into likeness to His, the more 
competent do we become to grasp (even though but 
dimly) His perfect goodness, and the more we learn 
to love Him. 

If we are convinced of the love of God to mankind, 
our efforts to become like Him must of necessity take 
the form of good-will, well-doing and love toward our 
fellow-men. There is nothing that makes us feel so 
conscious of living and working in harmony with the 
character and the will of God as the disinterested 
service of our fellows. In deeds of kindness and up- 
lift we feel ourselves at one with the Power that has, 



86 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

through all the ages, been moving toward the better- 
ment of the human race, and though our candle is a 
trifle compared with the power of the sun, yet we are 
assured that its little influence is for and not against 
the light. 

But there is more than this to be said for brotherly- 
love as a means of loving God. We frequently fail 
to understand the good providence of God toward a 
fellow-man because of our complete ignorance of his 
affairs, — an ignorance resulting from our utter in- 
difference to his welfare. We say, for instance, that 
we cannot understand the love of a providence that 
visits sickness upon a neighboring father and bread- 
winner; but perhaps, if we were as sympathetically 
interested in his affairs as we should have been, we 
should have perceived the ruinous habits into which 
he was drifting, and have seen the result of the sober- 
ing thoughts of illness in his return to better ways. 
It is doubtless in many cases impossible for us to be 
sufficiently familiar with the affair of others, to enable 
us to see the love of God in His providential care of 
them; often, perhaps, we cannot understand His love 
in our own cases. But what is claimed here is, that 
a warm heart of love for our fellow-men and a loving 
interest in their welfare frequently give us fresh 
demonstrations of God's love and providence, and so 
increase our love to Him. 

And it may be worth noting, also, that a universal 
love of mankind increases our love to God by enabling 
us to perceive clearly how very few of the sufferings 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 87 

of earth would remain, if every man loved his neighbor 
as himself, regardless of creed, color or condition, and 
if such universal love should have been practiced for 
four or five successive generations. 

If it is true, as has been shown previously, that the 
highest degree of human happiness is not attained 
merely through the physical life, then it follows that 
we fall far short of likeness to the character of God 
and of co-operation with His purposes, if we seek 
nothing further than to aid our fellowmen in their 
efforts to obtain food, shelter and raiment. It has 
been shown that the mental or spiritual pleasures of 
which we are capable are far greater and more en- 
during than the bodily pleasures, and therefore it 
must be the main purpose of God in this world to de- 
velop the spiritual nature of man. If we believe in a 
future, eternal life for the mind of man after this its 
temporary embodiment has been laid aside, the proper 
development of character assumes an overwhelming 
importance; and we feel that the only love toward 
our fellow-men worthy of the name of co-operation 
with God is that which continually works for right- 
eousness above all else, and which looks far beyond 
the mere satisfaction of the physical necessities and 
seeks to cultivate in its object the highest character and 
the right relations toward man and toward God. It is 
only when our hearts, our hands and our prayers are 
enlisted in such work that we feel most profoundly 
that God is with us, and that we are, in our small way, 
co-operating with the infinite power that through all 



88 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

the ages has been moving the human race toward mu- 
tual love. To the depth and the reality of the love 
toward God and the trust in Him resulting from such 
co-working with Him, the history of a thousand mar- 
tyrs in many ages and countries of the world bears 
witness. For scarcely any other cause than the moral 
uplift of their fellow-men have men been known vol- 
untarily to die; but in this cause they have been so 
fully conscious of God's protection and love that 
death lost its terrors. There can be no stronger evi- 
dence of the reality of man's love to God, than the 
sacrifice of his life in doing what he considers God's 
will. But, apart from such evidence, every man may 
test in his own experience the power of co-operation 
with the divine Father, as a means of deepening our 
love toward Him. 



CHAPTER XIII 

LOVE TOWARD GOD 

Preparation for Eternal Life 

If the certainty that there is an eternal life awaiting 
us after death has been established in a previous 
chapter, it follows, in view of the infinitesimal span 
of the present life in comparison with the endless life 
to come, that our supreme concern in this world should 
be, to prepare rightly for that life; just as the scholar's 
primary object at school should be to fit himself for 
the conditions of life after he leaves the parental care 
and enters the world. 

But how can we prepare for a life of which we 
know absolutely nothing, and from which none re- 
turn to tell us what conditions prevail ? As it has been 
shown previously, that the everlasting Creator of the 
human race loves His creatures and seeks their hap- 
piness, it follows as a corollary that the same laws 
of happiness which we have found to prevail in this 
life will prevail throughout eternity. For if entirely 
different or even contrary laws of happiness prevailed 
in the future life, not only would this life, which can- 
not be meant as other than a preparation for our really 

89 



90 THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 

enduring existence, be entirely futile and wasted, and 
its trials, pains and sorrows in vain; but God would 
be wilfully misleading us and would be inculcating in 
our minds through our experiences here principles of 
character which we must entirely unlearn, before we 
could be happy in the future world. But upon the 
assumption that the same laws of happiness govern 
the human mind, whether in the present body or in 
another state, our present brief existence upon this 
small planet is clearly intended to be a school for the 
real life, and the body with its necessities and its ap- 
petites is the goad which awakens the infant mind to 
activity and throughout this life compels the use, and 
therefore the development, of our mental and moral 
faculties. 

It follows, therefore, that if we would develop our 
characters in a manner that will insure the highest de- 
gree of happiness in the eternal life to which we are 
all hastening, it must be our chief concern to cultivate 
love toward our fellow-men and love toward God, 
which we have seen in previous chapters are the means 
of attaining the greatest happiness of which we are 
capable in our present state. 

It will be seen, that the proper preparation for the 
life to come does not unfit us for the highest degree 
of usefulness in this world. On the contrary, it is 
only the man who lives in the faith of a future life, 
and who holds communion with the God and Father 
of us all, who can consistently carry the law of love 
and service to its logical limits, and who is capable of 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER 91 

voluntarily giving life itself, if necessary, to save the 
lives of others. As has been said in a previous chap- 
ter, no man who believes that death is annihilation 
can have any possible motive to exercise kindness to- 
ward his fellow-men to an extent that would endanger 
his own life, much less can he have any motive volun- 
tarily to sacrifice his life, even for the sake of saving 
a multitude of other lives. A character based on this 
belief must of necessity be selfish and cowardly, and 
therefore unfitted to work out the person's own hap- 
piness in this life, or to make his life of the greatest 
service to mankind. But with the belief in eternal 
bliss beyond the portal of death, and with the con- 
tinuous consciousness of God's presence, we find all 
the discord between right and expediency removed, 
we are able to reconcile the perfect love of God to- 
ward us with the pain and sorrow in this world, and 
we can obey the law of love to the fullest extent, 
though our kindness to our fellow-men should cost our 
comfort, our safety, our health, our life itself. With 
faith in eternal life and happiness all the riddles of 
life are plain ; without it, insoluble ; with this faith life 
and death hold no terrors for the mind; without it, 
peace and happiness even in this life are hardly at- 
tainable. The highest type of character is that which 
builds for eternity. 



